Hello beautiful people! A few months ago, when we had just finished adding in Luke 12 to our quiz schedule, I did a post about my favorite parts (of the first half) of the material. And, as promised, I'm here again for Part 2 of that post, in which I'll be sharing with you my favorite parts of the second half of the material (Luke 13-24) and why they are such! So here we go! And again, it was really hard to choose just three areas, but I did my best and I'll have the next runners up at the end of the post! :P 3. The Widow's Offering (Luke 21:1-4) This is a very small section, but the message is huge! Jesus is telling his disciples that it doesn't really matter how much you give compared to everyone else. He is saying that what matters to Him is the state of our hearts - if we're committed to trusting Him with everything. Messages directed at teenagers are often either from 1 Timothy 4:12, or about something similar to this. They may focus on the point that there's "really not much" that we as kids, can do for, or give to God right now, and that "that's okay" (as a comforting message). But after really thinking and talking to God about it, I've come to the conclusion that I really don't agree with this philosophy at all, and that it can even be dangerous. When we accept the lie that there's not much or anything that we can do for God right now, we become complacent and too laid back. We're not in a dress rehearsal, or a team huddle, my friends - we are in the performance, right now, today; we are in the middle of the final game. We can do things, we can start growing on purpose with a purpose right now, we can train to become soldiers for God - we can (and will) take the world by storm. But that does include making some sacrifices every once in a while. Whether we like it or not, we're the next generation of the church. Sometimes we just have to sit down and let that fact sink in. Are we going to reach the world (God's beautiful children) with the good news of the kingdom of God, or are we going to fall into the muck of religion, and chase the world away with our inner strife and lack of joy as His body, the church? Guys, I want you to know that we are not incapable of furthering His kingdom until we graduate from college and go full time into the ministry, or even until we're legal adults. Let's start the journey now; learn His Word, and how to operate in His kingdom, and start living in the gifts that He's given us. But to do that, we do have to continually, consciously choose trust Him with everything we are, and everything we do - as the poor widow does in this passage. 2. The Blind Beggar/Zacchaeus (Luke 18:35-43/Luke 19:1-10) In these two areas there's one main similarity that stands out to me; their desperation for Jesus. It makes me wonder if I want to see Him that much, if I am so committed, to the point that I don't care about what others think, or say to me. Especially in the story about the Blind Beggar, it is very evident that he'd heard of Jesus and that he'd been wanting to see Him and get healed. He may have even dreamed about what exactly he would do if Jesus ever came his way. And when Jesus finally did come, when He was passing right in front of him on the road, he called out for Him over and over and would not be turned away. Even when the people in the crowd were embarrassed about his outburst, even when they told him to be quiet because he wasn't worth it, even when it seemed like Jesus might not hear him or know he was there. There is definitely something powerful about desperation when it's mixed with Jesus and His love and power. Are we desperate for Jesus today? Are we willing to give up certain things in order to spend quality time with our Father? Things like shows, video games, texting, social media, and pleasure reading? I want you to know that I am just as guilty of indulging in these things as the next person, and I'm familiar with what it's like to feel like you've somehow stood Jesus up for your coffee/Bible study. But today, let's throw our yesterdays into the past, where they should be, and look to our tomorrows with expectation of good. Lets press into the Lord this week - in His presence is fullness of joy! 3. Counting The Cost (Luke 14:25-35) The first question that comes up in this section, is "Why would Jesus want us to hate our families, and ourselves?!". But He's not saying that - rather, that you must know that you know that when/if you're presented with the choice, you would choose Jesus and what He's told you to do, over your family and what they're telling you to do. The second question, is the matter of carrying your cross. One way of looking at this is persecution - obviously the cross was the symbol of suffering, pain, and shame in their day, and so this makes sense. Jesus said that everyone would hate us because of Him, and that His road would not always be easy in our sin-ruled world. But another view of what it means to carry your cross, equally valid, is just to be like Jesus. Yes, taking on the persecution like He did, but also the operating in the love in which He operated. We all know that Jesus died on the cross purely because of His love for us - He allowed himself to be beaten and mocked by the guards and sneered at by the rulers because He was so enthralled with the idea of how He would be able to love you afterwards. But the thing, is that we're charged to love the world as well. That may not mean that we're going to go through all of the things that Jesus went through, but that same agape love is what causes people to lay down their lives in similar ways - even today. Probably not physically, but if you're loud enough, and radical enough, people will socially crucify you. Counting the cost of following Jesus isn't something necessarily fun to do. Most of what is included in the "cost" is not a pleasant thing to think about. But God waits for you to consider, and then make that decision. Why is it important to do that? Because once you're investing all that you are in Christ, and loving the world as He did and does, no matter what may happen to you, you're going to be a force to be reckoned with - the devil will not be able to scare you away. So there's my favorite parts of the second half of Luke! The other fierce competitors include, Jesus and the Little Children, all three of the parables about The Lost in chapter 15, the Parables of the Mustard Seed and Yeast, Jesus at Gethsemane, and the whole story of Peter denying Jesus.
Man, there's a lot of awesome stuff in Luke! :P I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for reading! And until next time, keep fighting the good fight, keep being the awesome you that our Father specifically designed you to be, and keep trusting and living in the promises the Lord has blessed us with! Love you guys! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory
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Trending Posts:Author:Mallory is a graduated Teen Bible Quizzer originally from the Southern region, moved to the Northwest, coaching quizzing over the book of Matthew. Check out our
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